When analyzing successes of startups who disrupted huge markets like airbnb, reddit, youtube and others the case studies tend to focus on strategy. When talking to investors, you’ll also be asked about your strategy. Advisors and mentors like to analyze strategy and sometimes you will be asked to write lengthy strategy documents (a business plan is such). But just like many other cases in the startup world, the illusion that strategy is important hides the truth about how these startups really started. It wasn’t the strategy they focused on, but getting the first, second, third user and then on getting their 10th, 20th, 30th user, and so on.

If you dig deep into the history of airbnb, youtube and reddit (and many other industry changing startups) you will see how focused they were on those first few users. More than anything else, and definitely more than the strategy itself, getting those first users, and then increasing the user count was their main focus in the early days, more important than anything else.

It’s hard to overestimate how important getting the first customer is. The boxer Mike Tyson was asked once about his opponent’s plan for their upcoming world championship fight. He famously said: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”; reality is often like a punch in the face, and having those first few users is like getting hit by reality. Your strategy may be perfect on paper, but may not work in the real world; conversely, you may not have your strategy just yet, but having those first few users may show you the way. This is especially important if you are a B2C startup; you have a certain idea in mind of your perceived value you are providing to the user – but you will often find that the users have a completely different idea about what the real value is to them. Watching, Listening and Talking to these first users is crucial to understanding how to grow.

Be careful here: focusing on the first users does not mean providing a full service to those users. To build a scalable startup you need to provide a product, and if it’s a service it needs to be a fully automated service. Resist the temptation to tailor your product to the specification of the first few customers, no matter what the financial incentive is; watching, listening and talking – yes; tailoring to their specification – no. The famous phrase “The Customer is always right” is true many times, but not in this case. Your first users or customers may not necessarily be right. If Apple listened to their first iPod users they would have added more buttons and ruined the simplicity of the first iPod device. If they have listened to the first iPhone users they would have added a keyboard and missed on the touch screen interface that is now an iconic part of all mobile phones.

Instead of customizing the product usage to match the customer’s preference, try to customize the user acquisition process. Many startups, and Korean startups especially, try to find a single way to attract many users at once, instead of taking a more tailored approach. Getting your users one by one, hunting them in any way possible, is completely acceptable, especially when you are launching a new product or service that is not yet understood. Once this user is on board, however, you can supply them with all the support needed to use your product, without customizing the product itself to their needs. Repeat this with the second, third, tenth customer. Slowly, a pattern will emerge on how to attract more and more customers.

Having no users is bad, and no strategy can fix it. Put the strategy documents aside and roll your sleeves: time to go hunt those first few customers!

Let reality punch you in the face

When analyzing successes of startups who disrupted huge markets like airbnb, reddit, youtube and others the case studies tend to focus on strategy. When talking to investors, you’ll also be asked about your strategy. Advisors and mentors like to analyze strategy and sometimes you will be asked to write lengthy strategy documents (a business plan is such). But just like many other cases in the startup world, the illusion that strategy is important hides the truth about how these startups really started. It wasn’t the strategy they focused on, but getting the first, second, third user and then on getting their 10th, 20th, 30th user, and so on.

If you dig deep into the history of airbnb, youtube and reddit (and many other industry changing startups) you will see how focused they were on those first few users. More than anything else, and definitely more than the strategy itself, getting those first users, and then increasing the user count was their main focus in the early days, more important than anything else.

It’s hard to overestimate how important getting the first customer is. The boxer Mike Tyson was asked once about his opponent’s plan for their upcoming world championship fight. He famously said: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”; reality is often like a punch in the face, and having those first few users is like getting hit by reality. Your strategy may be perfect on paper, but may not work in the real world; conversely, you may not have your strategy just yet, but having those first few users may show you the way. This is especially important if you are a B2C startup; you have a certain idea in mind of your perceived value you are providing to the user – but you will often find that the users have a completely different idea about what the real value is to them. Watching, Listening and Talking to these first users is crucial to understanding how to grow.

Be careful here: focusing on the first users does not mean providing a full service to those users. To build a scalable startup you need to provide a product, and if it’s a service it needs to be a fully automated service. Resist the temptation to tailor your product to the specification of the first few customers, no matter what the financial incentive is; watching, listening and talking – yes; tailoring to their specification – no. The famous phrase “The Customer is always right” is true many times, but not in this case. Your first users or customers may not necessarily be right. If Apple listened to their first iPod users they would have added more buttons and ruined the simplicity of the first iPod device. If they have listened to the first iPhone users they would have added a keyboard and missed on the touch screen interface that is now an iconic part of all mobile phones.

Instead of customizing the product usage to match the customer’s preference, try to customize the user acquisition process. Many startups, and Korean startups especially, try to find a single way to attract many users at once, instead of taking a more tailored approach. Getting your users one by one, hunting them in any way possible, is completely acceptable, especially when you are launching a new product or service that is not yet understood. Once this user is on board, however, you can supply them with all the support needed to use your product, without customizing the product itself to their needs. Repeat this with the second, third, tenth customer. Slowly, a pattern will emerge on how to attract more and more customers.

Having no users is bad, and no strategy can fix it. Put the strategy documents aside and roll your sleeves: time to go hunt those first few customers!

If you are a Korean startup that needs help going global, I want to hear from you! Consider this a personal invitation to contact me for help. I’m on Facebook, Twitter (@aviramj) and you can email me at: aviram@jenik.com to tell me how I can help you.